01x07 : Alone in the dark
by Gabrielle Henson
Summary: [7th episode in a series] Faith and Tara chase a demon in the mountains and get lost at night...
1. Teaser

_Disclaimer : Everyone knows who own Buffy and co ! Obviously, it's not me!_

_ The story is the seventh episode in a series called 'Rocky path' and begins around one year after 'Chosen'_

_( I strongly recommand to read the 6 first episodes to understand that one) _

_You can check the series out on my website  
_

_Please let me know what you think._

_And I'm still looking for beta-readers !_

* * *

Dark. It was dark.

The man opened his eyes and the pain he felt on his side transformed his face in an ugly grimace. His hand instinctively reached for his ribs and his fingers met a sticky liquid. He followed the course of the blood oozing from his body and his hand touched the blood puddle under him. He suddenly felt nauseated but couldn't turn on his side to vomit. A warm liquid flew along his cheek then in his throat.

In a desperate effort, he pushed on his arms and made himself lie on his good side. He slowly turned his head and his eyes roamed around him.

Dark. Everything was dark.

If he compelled his eyes to stay open, he could perceive rocks around him. And trees. If he had been able to look up, he probably would have seen stars shining above his head. Stars could be better seen from the mountains he remembered.

He tried to move again. But he choked in pain. He felt his strength leaving him.

Tears started to roll down his cheeks. That expedition in the mountains was costing him his life. In the distance, he could imagine the town and the night-lights.

Here, everything was dark.

He closed his eyes again and gave up to fight. His arm came to his neck, grabbed a chain hanging there. His fingers ran along the links and closed around a pendant he gripped with little strength left he had. His lips slightly opened and weak words came from the back of his throat.

"Fugaces labuntur anni(1) …"

The man's eyes opened once again and the words came firmer.

"Cor unum et anima una(2) "

Louder.

"De profundis clamavi(3) "

Quicker.

"Dis aliter visum(4) "

"Manet alta mente repostum(5) "

Then, he suddenly choked again.

"Pulvis et umbra sumus(6) "

"Per inania regna(7) "

He loosened his grip.

His eyes slowly closed again. Dark became absolute again.

"Et tenebrae factae sunt(8) "

And behind the man's dead body, lightning the dark night up, suddenly appeared a white flash of light, which quickly turned fire-orangey.

* * *

_Notes :_

_(1)Years quickly fade away_

_(2)One heart, one soul_

_(3)From the depths I implore_

_(4)Gods have decided otherwise_

_(5)Memories remain deeply engraved in my heart_

_(6)We're just shadow and dust_

_(7)In the kingdom of darkness_

_(8)And shadows are there_


	2. Act 1

Tara slowly opened her eyes. Rays of sun welcomed her and the witch blinked in disagreement. She instinctively turned round in her bed to put her back to the window and shun the light coming through the half-drawn curtains. She closed her eyes again for a minute ant tried to get back to sleep. But sleep didn't come back immediately as she was used to.

The second after, she opened her eyes once again when she heard moving beside her. She rolled her eyes when she recognized the Slayer's awakening trademark noise.

She looked down and her eyes fell on Faith, squirming in her blankets on the floor.

"Already awake Blondie?" a really awaked Faith said. "That's a first"

"How could I sleep with all that noise you make?" Tara grumbled.

"I'm not making any noise" Faith said.

"You're making noise" Tara countered.

"Yeah"

Faith threw the blankets aside and jumped to her feet, which made the floor creak. Tara rolled her eyes meaningfully and Faith smirked.

"Yeah, like you were SO silent yourself" Faith ironically said, making reference to Tara's many nightmares, which made the blonde looking down.

The Slayer went to the dresser and grabbed her pack before lighting a cigarette.

"That is worse than anything!" Tara grumbled, pointing to the cigarette between Faith's fingers.

Faith didn't care and went to the window. She opened the curtains wide – which made Tara blink again- opened the window then sat on the edge.

"It's not too late. It's good" she said, more for herself than for Tara. "If we hurry, we can be in Montana this afternoon"

"Montana?"

"Yeah" Faith said, turning to Tara. "You know, one of the fifty states of America"

Tara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest with a sullen look in her face.

"Why Montana?" She specified in a sharp tone.

"Why not?" Faith replied, obviously having fun.

In front of Tara's still bored look, she eventually added.

"Nature. Wide-open spaces. That'll be a change"

Silence fell in the room and both girls didn't move until Faith finally crushed her cigarette.

The Slayer threw her butt by the window under Tara's reproving glare then she stood and started some stretching exercises.

As Tara watched her with a questioning look, Faith felt like explaining:

"Hard floor. Trying to ease my back a little"

Tara looked down with a rather ashamed look on her face. She was about to say something when Faith interrupted her.

"Stop that Blondie. It's okay. I'm five by five."

She finished her movements and gathered her clothes, messily shattered on the dresser.

"I'm gonna grab a shower. Let you some more time to lie around in bed"

She headed to the door and added just before exiting the room:

"But when I come back, be ready to shower yourself so we can leave fast"

* * *

Faith was patting the steering wheels in rhythm as some folk music was playing in the car. Sun was bright above them as the car was speeding along at a good pace on a deserted two-ways road. With her elbow leant over the opened window, the Slayer looked like she was in a very good mood.

Which wasn't Tara's case. Sat in her place beside Faith, the witch was curled up on her seat and her face was as pallid as usual. A roadmap was on her knees. The blonde was alternately casting glances to it, the road and the brunette beside her.

"F-Faith" she suddenly got out in a trembling voice. "C-can you close the w-window?"

Faith laid a questioning look on her and rolled her eyes when she noticed that the witch was shivering.

"Blondie, there's plenty of sun outside" she said.

"I'm c-cold" Tara simply replied. "It's c-cold around here"

Faith rolled her eyes again but nevertheless did what she was asked but couldn't help grumbling some unintelligible words.

"Montana here" she growled. "Colder than California"

When the window was totally closed, Faith slowed down the car as she caught sight of a crossroad in the distance.

"Blondie" she said. "Your call. Where am I going?"

Tara got back to the map on her knees and her trembling finger traced some road on the paper for several seconds before she looked up to Faith.

"Right" she pointed.

"Right? You sure Blondie?" Faith asked, furrowing her brows.

Faith slowed down more while Tara was looking at the map again, a hint of panic on her face.

"Yes" she said in a firmer voice a second later.

When the car had turned on the right as she had said, the witch added.

"I can read a map Faith"

"Yeah, I guess" the Slayer distractedly replied. "But you didn't look so sure. Just wanted to check"

Tara shrugged and didn't answer. She leant back in her seat and crossed tightly her arms around her chest. Faith cast her a glance and turned the heater button.

"Stop sulking Blondie" she said. "Look, I'm switching heater on"

Faith opened the wind tunneland tried the temperature on her fingers.

"Stop sulking and look at the landscape" she happily repeated, and did as she suggested. "Neat around here, what d'you think?"

Tara turned to her and looked at her with obvious surprise.

"I didn't think you'd be the kind of girl to like country" she eventually said after wavering.

"Never known that" the Slayer quickly explained. "Grew up in Boston. Then I ran to Sunnydale. Then Los Angeles. Then London. Then Cleveland"

"London?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. Went there for a few months. To build the new Council"

Saying this, Faith grabbed a piece of sandwich on the dashboard and took a good bite.

"You moved a lot" Tara commented.

"Yeah"

Silence fell again for a moment before Faith resumed.

"And you? Ever gone to Montana?"

Tara shook her head.

"No."

She didn't say more and Faith didn't insist. Then finally, as the Slayer was finishing her sandwich off, the witch resumed in a low voice:

"I grew up in Minnesota. My father had" she wavered for half a second. "has got a farm there" she corrected.

"We weren't that far" Faith said. "We could have…"

"No" Tara interrupted, more dryly than she had intended. "I-I like discovering Montana better"

"Sunnydale?" Faith commented a little later. "Not the closest place from Minnesota, right?"

"No" Was the only reply she got.

She waited for a moment but nothing more came.

"Nothing else?" she asked after a silence.

Tara shook her head.

"No. Just Minnesota and Sunnydale"

She looked like she was thinking about it then added:

"Well, there's Cleveland now. And all the states we crossed"

Faith couldn't help but smirk.

"At least, you're seeing some of the country thanks to me!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

Silence fell again between them and Faith let herself relax and watch the road warmed by the sun in front of her and the deserted areas bordering it.

She was entering a light curve when the rays of sun warming the windscreen suddenly disappeared as a wide shadow covered the car. Faith frowned: she hadn't seen a cloud for miles.

She looked up and saw no cloud in the sky as she had foreseen.

"What the hell is that?"

She tried to crane her neck to see above the car and cast a glance to Tara who was doing the same.

"Faith! Watch out!"

Tara's yell got Faith's focus back to the road and the Slayer saw a black figure storming down in front of the car. She crushed the brake pedal then sharply turned the steering wheel to avoid the shaft of fire that had suddenly came out of nowhere in front of them.

The car skidded before coming to a stop across the road. Both girls were abruptly thrown against the dashboard then stopped by their safety belts.

Faith didn't care; she unhooked it and jumped out of the car in no time.

The road was deserted and there was nothing in sight. Faith turned around several times, hoping that her Slayer's senses could feel the presence of the thing that had just sent them off the road. But she found nothing.

After some minutes of unsuccessful research, she came back to the car. Tara hadn't moved.

"You okay Blondie?" she asked when she saw that the blonde wasn't moving on her passenger seat.

Tara didn't answer but turned to her.

"Wh-what was that?" she asked.

Faith shrugged to show she had no idea and pointed the witch's forehead.

"You're bleeding a little" she said.

Tara ran her hand to her forehead and wiped the blood off before considering her fingers with a blank look.

"Wh-what was that?" Tara repeated.

"Don't know" Faith mumbled.

"Looked like some kind of flying demon" she added a second after, as she was thinking out loud. "But it disappeared so fast that I didn't got enough time to see it clearly"

"I've never seen anything like that before" she said again a little while later.

She followed the car's skidding tracks up to the place they were before she had to go off the road. Asphalt was blackened. Faith frowned.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't really friendly" she grumbled.

"Do y-you think it w-was a dragon?" Tara asked, as she finally came to meet with her.

"Don't know" Faith replied and looked around her again. "Does it even exist?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

Tara shrugged.

"The-there're thousands different k-kind of demons" she tried to explain.

"Yeah"

Faith bent over the dark stain on the ground then looked up to the sky.

"By daylight!" she exclaimed. "Demons don't attack by daylight that often"

She stood up and watched around her again.

"They don't even stick to the rules anymore!"

Faith got back to the car and gestured to Tara to follow.

"C'mon Blondie, there's nothing more here. Whatever it was, it's gone"

* * *

Going out from a corner, Faith cried out in victory as she caught sight of a village on the slope of the mountain.

"We got there!" she exclaimed. "You were right Blondie, right it was!"

"I can read a map" Tara said as she nodded her head.

The car quickly swallowed the remaining miles and got in the village's main street.

It was the end of the afternoon. Sun started to draw to a close but it was still daytime. A freezing wind swept the deserted sidewalks. Faith cast sly glances around her on both sides of the street and noticed with much surprised that all shutters were closed and all stores' blinds shut.

The Slayer frowned and slowed down to watch more closely her surroundings.

"Looks like nobody's around here" she casually said a little while later as she still had spotted anyone. "Weird"

"Don't you think Blondie?" She added, turning to the blonde.

"Hum? Wh-what?

Tara snapped out of her reverie and turned to Faith when she heard the Slayer talking to her. The brunette rolled her eyes.

"Just skip it" she mumbled.

After driving for several minutes in the still deserted streets, Faith eventually parked the car when they got to a small square and she got off the car.

"Let's go and see what's going on here" she told Tara before closing her door.

She then opened the back-door and grabbed the weapons bag on the seat. She took there two knives she put to her belt, then added her crossbow and some bolts.

Tara looked at her doing so from her seat without moving and Faith had to roll her eyes again when she noticed.

"Come with me Blondie"

Tara regretfully opened her door and got silently off the car. Faith gestured to her to follow and headed to a baker's store standing in a corner of the square and whose blinds were shut.

Girls stopped in front of the closed door and Faith read the opening hours on a board stuck to the storefront. The Slayer then looked at her watch and frowned.

"Should be opened" she whispered.

She walked some feet away to the adjoining butcher's shop and noticed the same thing.

"Same here…"

"What?" Tara asked and Faith almost jumped when she heard her voice.

"Should be opened" the Slayer repeated in an annoyed tone.

"And it's closed" Tara said. "And what?"

Faith looked at her with a annoyed look on her face and deeply sighed.

"Blondie, it's been a while we're strolling around here and we've still seen no one. Doesn't sound weird to you?" she exclaimed.

She shrugged and resumed without letting Tara enough time to say something.

"But why on earth am I expecting that you'd notice that kind of thing…"

She then turned around and started to knock at the butcher's shop door. This time, it was Tara's turn to jump.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"Obviously, knocking" Faith replied, rolling her eyes.

She knocked louder as no one was answering the door and Tara shook her head.

"You're gonna break that door"

"Maybe someone would come to answer" Faith grumbled and came closer to the window to try to see behind the shut blinds.

"Faith. It's closed" Tara stated as she was talking to a little child.

Faith turned to her with an annoyed look on her face.

"Blondie, just let me do this"

Tara winced but nevertheless remained quiet as Faith started to drum on the door again. Unlike her guess, the Slayer's efforts were eventually rewarded when the door finally opened after several minutes and when a man's head came into sight through the half open door.

"Was long!" Faith exclaimed.

"It's closed" the man grumbled and was already ready to close the door again.

But Faith put her feet in the door's way and the door remained open.

"What do you want?"

"What's going on here?" The Slayer asked. "We haven't seen a soul since we got here"

"You won't find anyone" the man quickly replied, trying to close his door again. "Everyone's inside"

"Why that? It's not even night time yet"

He shrugged and pushed again against the leaf door.

"You should leave as quickly as possible miss. You won't find anything here"

"Does that desert have something to do with the flying living thing we saw on our road there?"

This time, the man stopped to push against the door and looked curiously at Faith.

"You've seen it?"

"Yeah" she said. "It almost sent our car off the road" she explained. "And tried to burn it"

The man didn't reply and went on staring at her.

"What's that?" Faith asked. "Do you know what is that?"

"No" he said, shaking his head. "But…"

"Let us in" Faith interrupted, pushing in her turn on the door.

He wavered for half a second then finally opened wider for the girls to come in his shop.

It was dark. A woman was standing in the doorway at the back of the shop.

"What is it Mike?"

"Strangers" the man replied. "They saw the…"

He hesitantly looked at the girls and finished.

"The monster"

"Oh my God!" the woman said, coming closer. "Are you hurt?"

"No, we're not" Faith relied, shaking her head. "We're five by five"

The woman frowned to the saying but didn't add anything.

"So?" The Slayer resumed. "Do you know what it is?"

"No" the man answered again. "But why? What's with that?"

Faith pointed to the crossbow hanging at her belt. The man hadn't noticed it before the room was plunged into darkness.

"I'm a demon fighter" she explained.

He looked at her with a disbelieving look.

"What?"

"Demon fighter. Or Vampire Slayer" Faith casually said. "So, that demon?"

"What do you want to know?" the man asked as he went on staring at Faith with a questioning look.

"Everything" Faith simply replied.

"It came from out of nowhere some days ago" he explained. "At first, he came at night, then in the afternoon. He flies above the village and attacks everything that moves. Already a dozen of people have been killed."

"We tried to do something" he went on as Faith remained silent. "The police came. Well, they tried…"

"Yeah" Faith said. "Not their thing"

"We told the authorities. They said they would send a team. That's what they said."

"What does it usually attack?"

"Everything that moves. Cars, people. He comes. He goes. We lock us down as soon as the end of the afternoon's there and we hope he won't destroy our houses this time"

"Do you know where I can find it?"

"You can't do anything" the woman said as she came to stand beside her husband. "It's a monster"

"We just can wait and hope" the man added, looking at Faith.

"Wait and hope uh?" Faith shrugged. "Not really my thing"

"So?" she added after a silence. "Any idea where I ca…?"

A deafening noise and a great clamor interrupted the Slayer. The woman snuggled up to her husband as cries of terror could be heard from the outside.

"I guess you have your answer" she whispered.


	3. Act 2

Faith got closer to the window and started to lift up the blinds.

"Don't!" the man yelled. "It would see us!"

Faith turned an annoyed look to him and lifted slightly the blinds anyway.

"Oh my God!" she heard behind her.

She bent slightly forward to see the street and her eyes opened wide as she watched the scene taking place there.

"Oh my God" she repeated.

She could see the demon in the middle of the street. Faith had seen a lot of things through the last years. But nothing like this. Dragon was the first word that came to her mind when she saw the creature flying above the street with its wings all unfolded and belching fire here and there. Its skin was covered with coarse scales that Faith supposed were thick and its strong paws were provided with large and long claws.

A car had hit a floor lamp in the street and the front of the car was steaming from both the shock and the monster's treatment. A young man was running as fast as he could to try to escape the demon and was yelling in terror.

Faith unhooked the crossbow hanging at her belt and loaded a bolt.

"Stay here Blondie, I'm coming back"

"What are you doing?" Tara asked when she saw Faith putting her hand on the doorknob.

"I'm gonna see what I can do, stay here"

Tara opened her mouth to say something but closed it before any sound could be heard.

"You can't…"

Faith didn't let the man finish his sentence and resolutely jumped into the street. The door loudly echoed behind her. Tara came to the window in her turn and watched the Slayer.

As soon as she was out in the street Faith aimed at the demon and fired a bolt to it. She hit it but as expected, the bolt didn't seem to hurt the monster in the slightest.

It turned away from its first prey to face Faith who had already reloaded her crossbow and was ready to fire again.

"C'mon here big boy…"

She waited for it to come closer before shooting and had to jump aside on her left to the center of the street to avoid the stray of flames coming her way.

She nevertheless smirked when she heard it snarl in pain as the bolt hit it again.

Faith rolled on her side and got up to her feet quickly to run away from the monster as fast as she could. She cast a glance behind her and learnt that the demon's pain hadn't last. It was following her, spitting and yelling behind her.

He soon was close enough and Faith had to jump aside again to avoid new flames.

She got to her feet and turned round to see where her opponent was. It spat again and swooped on her. Faith avoided a first attack and tried to fire at it once again. She missed it and the demon managed to get closer enough to attack her with its claws. Faith violently threw one of her dagger forward and tried to dodge.

She partly succeeded. The demon didn't hit her on her face as it had intended but one of his claws violently bumped into Faith's left shoulder. Pain was so intense that Faith thought for a second that she might lose consciousness. She suddenly felt nauseous and had to make a great effort to hold back and to roll on her side again to avoid new flames.

"Okay, if I'm not doing something, that demon will quickly burn that town…"

She managed to crawl behind a flight of stairs leading to a house's steps and curled up behind the rocks where the monster couldn't reach her. She looked at her wooded shoulder and ran her fingers on the wound. Her jacket had been torn into pieces, her white tee shirt wasn't all that white any more and Faith knew the cut was deep and irregular.

"Great" she grumbled as she felt blood running down her arm.

"I have to get out of here,…" she thought out loud, trying to look above the steps.

A new spray of lames welcomed her try and Faith dove again to the ground. A light smell of burning hit her nose and Faith ran her hand to her hair. A little lock fell to dust into her hand.

"Son of a bitch!" The Slayer cursed.

She loaded her crossbow and tried again to get to her feet to aim at the demon. Again, it spat fire toward her. This time, Faith was quick enough to avoid it but randomly shot in her hurry.

"Damn!" she grumbled.

The Slayer wedged herself behind the stairs again, her brain working hard to try to find an escape. Several minutes later, Faith finally realized that the demon's wings flutter and cries were not as loud as previously.

She carefully stood and noticed that the demon had stopped to wait for her and was getting away.

"Not really patient…" the dark-haired Slayer commented.

She loaded her crossbow and nimbly jumped across the stairs to run after the demon. Faith carefully remained at a distance for the demon not to spot her.

Streets were still deserted and the monster found nothing to attack. It randomly spat fire from time to time and went on flying above the town without Faith knowing if it had a goal or not. She didn't even know why she was following it. But instinct was stronger. Maybe she was watching out for a chance to attack it.

She thought she got one when the demon eventually flew away from the village to head toward the nearby forest.

Faith was ready to follow it but finally stopped on the edge of the forest.

She considered her equipment: some knives, her crossbow and just two bolts left. Then she looked up. Night was soon starting to fall. And she had nothing to give her some light. To venture in the mountains like this didn't feel like a good idea. She spotted the direction the dragon had followed and headed back toward the village.

* * *

Faith drumed again against the butcher's shop door where she had left Tara a while sooner. This time, the door immediatlety opened.

The Slayer hurriedly came in the shop and looked for Tara. The blonde was sitting at a table behind the counter and was drinking a hot drink with the woman.

She got up when she saw her coming in and came to meet with her.

"Blondie" Faith said. "We're going back to the car to take some stuff and…"

"Oh my God! You're hurt!" Tara interrupted as her eyes came to Faith's shoulder.

Faith followed her gaze and shrugged. She held back a slight wince at the pain the move caused her.

"It's no big."

Tara dumbfoundly looked at her and didn't keep on.

"The monster've done that to you?" the man asked, looking at her shoulder too.

Faith nodded and interrupted him before he could speak again.

"It's gone in the mountains. We're gonna go and see where it comes from"

"What?" asked all the room's occupiers with one voice.

"You said it came out from nowhere some days ago. It has to come from somewhere. We're gonna find out"

"I really don't see what you could possibly do" the man grumbled as he stared at the Slayer's figure. "You've already got quite beaten up"

Faith shrugged again and put her hand on her wound. She was still bleeding.

"It won't live long enough to do that again" she hissed between her teeth.

She headed to the door and gestured to Tara to follow.

"C'mon Blondie, we better get going"

Then, she turned to their hosts and simply added:

"Thank you. And sorry for the trouble"

With that, Faith exited the butcher's shop as Tara was adding more elaborate thanks before following her. They were soon back to the car and Faith threw her weapons on the back seat before grabbing her bag in the trunk. She removed her torn and splattered with blood jacket and tee-shirt, then started to clean the wound under Tara's disbelieving stare.

"Faith, you…"

"S'no big Blondie" Faith interrupted. "No one's around"

Tara pouted but didn't add anything.

Faith bandaged her shoulder and slipped a clean tee-shirt and sweater before going back to the back door with an empty backpack in her hand. She emptied the weapons bag on the seat and gathered all the remaining bolts. She put all of them into the backpack then added a short sword and some stakes.

When she was done, she considered the opened backpack in front of her then turned to Tara who was looking at her, standing still a feet away from her.

Faith stared at her for a moment, obviously giving some thinking to whatever she was about to say.

Finally after a rather long silence, she asked:

"D'you have some magical stuff left?"

Tara frowned and uncrossed her arms, obviously surprised:

"What? Hum, y-yeah. There's some left. W-why?"

"Take it" Faith said with authority.

"W-why?" Tara repeated.

"We're going in expedition Blondie. Magic could be useful."

As Tara was still disbelievingly looking at her, she specified:

"We're dealing with a real demon this time. Get ready to do some of your magic tricks"

Tara winced and her face crumpled.

"F-Faith, I c-can't do m-magic"

"How's that?" Faith grumbled.

"I haven't in a l-long t-time. I don't k-know if I would, if I'd remember…"

"Believe me" Faith said and shrugged. "When it comes to, you'll remember"

Then she gestured to the car's trunk.

"Give me your stuff"

Tara headed to the trunk and got out a plastic bag she handed to Faith.

"Night is about to fall" Tara said.

"Don't worry Blondie, it won't take much time. We'll get back when night really falls"

Tara pouted but the look on Faith's face was clearly telling her it wasn't opened to debate.

"Let's go" Faith simply said.

* * *

Faith was leading the way, following the path taken sooner when she had run after the dragon. Its trail wasn't hard to follow. Broken or burn trees here and there pointed that the demon was there at some point.

Tara was following Faith really closely, looking worriedly around her as the forest around them became deeper.

The witch was starting to slow down. They were now walking for more than an hour through the mountains and Tara started to feel tired.

"Faith" she called out to the Slayer finally after wavering a lot of times. "Can we have a break? I'm exhausted"

Faith stopped and turned to the blonde whom she gave an annoyed look.

"Blondie, we left just an hour ago. Night is falling. If we don't want to sleep here, we better keep moving"

"Why did you want to come absolutely tonight?" Tara replied. "It was certain that night would fall before we find your dragon!"

"Nothing was certain at all!" Faith countered. "That thing goes to the village every day. Mustn't be too far"

"It flies" Tara said in a blatant tone, as Faith could have not noticed that fact.

"And?"

"It's faster than we are!" Tara said in an exasperated tone.

"We'd be faster if you weren't that slow!"

"YOU wanted me to come!" Tara exclaimed. "And should I remind you that you were the one to keep me with you last time I wanted to leave?"

Faith rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"And now, I'm still wondering why!"

Tara didn't answer and the girls looked at each other daringly during long seconds. Finally, Faith turned round and resumed her walking.

"So, you're good now, got your time of rest. Let's go"

Tara looked at her, shared between puzzlement and disbelief. When Faith was at ten feet from her, she understood that the Slayer was serious and resumed walking with a bored sigh. She quickened her pace to try to catch up with the Slayer and Faith stopped to wait for her.

"Stay on your guard Blondie" Faith said as the girls resumed walking side by side. "We never know"

Tara nodded and she clenched her fingers around the dagger Faith had given her a little while sooner.

A few minutes later, Faith stopped again. Her body tensed and her arm raised her crossbow as she appeared to be on the lookout. Tara stopped beside her and looked around her with fear. She tried to see more clearly her surroundings but it was now dark and the witch could only make out shadowy figures.

"What…" she began.

But she got an answer to her question even before asking it.

"Tara! Down!" Faith suddenly yelled and pushed her to the ground.

Tara found herself lying on the floor and looking up, she saw the demon coming out above their heads from behind a wide rock on their left. The witch turned around and saw Faith shooting a bolt at the monster at the last moment before avoiding it. Tara looked in horror as she saw flames around Faith's legs. She was relieved the second after when the Slayer rolled on her side and got to her feet as the monster was crying in pain.

Tara understood why when it turned round and she could see its face. Faith had shot him in the eye. Tara couldn't help but feel admiring to the dark-haired Slayer's dexterity. She was undoubtedly gifted. Her voice brought her back to present.

"Get up Blondie!"

Faith's concerned and pressing tone made her stand immediately. She understood just after the worry in Faith's voice.

The demon wasn't happy with this new impairment and was randomly spitting fire around. But Faith was taking advantage of its limited field of vision with great skill. The Slayer had managed to slip close to it, coming from its blind side and was violently stabbing it with her sword. When she stabbed it for the third time, she had to step aside and to hide behind a rock to protect herself from the monster's counter-attack. Flames were stopped against the rock as the monster snarled in pain again.

Faith loaded her crossbow and turned around the rock. She shot a new bolt when the demon turned to her and spat a new spray of flames.

The Slayer just had time to take refuge again behind her rock.

She loaded her crossbow and was ready to fire again but she heard a loud flutter and guessed that the demon was flying away.

Faith got out from her hiding place. She looked for Tara and found her cuddled up beside another rock.

"Let's go Blondie!" She hurriedly said. "We're moving!"

Without waiting, Faith ran after the demon. Tara looked at her hesitantly and when Faith turned round to see if she was following, she hadn't moved at all.

"C'mon Blondie! The Slayer yelled.

Tara looked at Faith getting away for half a second then considered the elusive shadows around her and her legs suddenly started to run.

They raced down slopes, climbed other mountainsides, ran through fir trees and rocks, trying desperately to follow the monster. How her legs could even still carry her as Faith was hardly in sight before her? Tara didn't know. But she stumbled on to run behind the Slayer without even knowing why.

Finally Faith stopped abruptly when she had to admit that the demon had shaken then off. The Slayer threw her crossbow to the ground in rage and stamped on her feet until Tara finally caught up with her.

"We lost it" she said, as Tara had not noticed.

The witch was standing beside her, folded in two, trying hard to get control of her breath.

"You… you're running so…so fast" she managed to get out, panting.

"Not fast enough" Faith grumbled and looked around her.

The look on her face was a mix of anger and defeat. She carried on to look around her for a track of the demon's presence but she wasn't convinced anymore.

"And now?" Tara asked after what she thought was enough time of waiting for the slayer to calm down.

Faith nonchalantly shrugged. She picked her crossbow up and hooked it back at her belt. She then peered into her surroundings. The night was now deep.

"Don't know" Faith grumbled. "It's no use to go on. We can't see a thing"

Her eyes roamed around her again.

"We're gonna get back. I'll come back by tomorrow"

They turned back at a calmer pace. They cry of an animal in the distance made them jump and Tara stopped dead in her tracks and looked frantically around her. Faith looked at her half-amused half-bored.

When Tara's eyes fell onto her with a glimmer Faith read as accusing, the Slayer rolled her eyes and opened her arms in front of her in a dramactic gesture.

"Okay Blondie. Got the memo. Not my best idea ever uh…"

They resumed their walk and Faith noticed with amusement that Tara was increasing her pace to stay as close as possible. The blonde wasn't obviously at ease.

"Relax Blondie, we'll soon be back!"

Tara didn't answer and they resumed walking in silence. Faith was on the lookout, ready for every eventuality and was watching closely at the night around them. When a new cry pierced the night - not too far from them this time – Faith mechanically turned to its direction, crossbow in hand, ready to fire.

A light noise of leaves and cracking branches could be heard and Faith came in front of Tara. The Slayer closely watched in front of her, listening carefully to the slightest sound to try to detect when the approaching thing would be within reach.

"Blondie…" she breathed in a so low tone that Tara jumped. "It's coming… Be ready…"

Tara shivered when she heard Faith's threatening and anguished voice and she tried to open her eyes wide to see what was coming. But despite all her efforts, she couldn't see a thing among the shapeless shadows of trees and rocks.

The noise was suddenly closer. Branches cracked right in front of her. Tara's heart started to pound loudly in her chest and Faith pushed her aside.

"Watch out Blondie!"

Tara stumbled over and flopped down on the ground and found herself facing a wild cat looking at her with its big yellow eyes. The animal growled and scampered off.

Tara remained stupid for a while and tried for long minutes to get her breathing under control and to lower her heart rate. Beside her, Faith was laughing heartily.

"God, Blondie! You should have seen you face!" she exclaimed between bursts of laughter. "Such a reaction for a tiny wild cat even more scared of you than you were of it!"

Tara opened her eyes wide and stared at the Slayer with a severe look.

"Y-you kn-knew it was j-just a cat?" she stuttered.

"Of course I knew!" Faith almost cheerfully exclaimed. "Slayer here!" she added, pointed proudly to herself.

Seeing Tara was still blankly looking at her, she specified:

"Increased senses"

Tara got to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, looking obviously annoyed.

"It wasn't funny" she seriously said.

"Relax Blondie » Faith said, trying to regain some seriousness. "Gotta have some fun"

She erased her smirk before adding more seriously:

"Sorry, couldn't resist"

Tara shrugged, turned around and resumed walking without a word for the Slayer. Faith looked at her getting away for a few seconds, then she followed and caught up with her in a few steps.

"You shouldn't get away alone Blondie" she said, smirking again. "You never know what could pop up from the shadows!"

She added a fake growl and mimicked a jumping cat with her hands.

"Very funny" Tara grumbled.

They then got to what could be called a crossroad and Tara stopped.

"And now?" she asked, turning to Faith with a questionning look.

Faith watched around her for a few seconds then pointed to their right.

"There"

Tara followed her and they resumed walking in silence for long minutes.

"I'm gonna grab a good shower" Faith commented after some time. "That damn demon tore my shoulder, blood ran down until my hand"

Saying this, she lifted her sweater where the demon had scratched her and looked closely at the wound.

"Still bleeding" she said, seeing her bandage stained with blood.

She then turned to Tara and added:

"You could do with a shower too Blondie. You've got dirst on her face, leaves in her hair and you probably got all sweaty trying to run after me!"

Tara ran her hand in her hair to make the leaves fall but didn't answer.

"I'm pretty sure that after a day like this, you'll sleep tomorrow even more than usual" Faith said. "Well, if that's even possible" she added, turning to Tara.

She didn't reply and just vaguely nodded her head as her mind was already thinking about the bed she would soon see again/

"F-Faith" she asked after a moment. "Do you th-think it's still gonna take l-long?"

"Don't know Blondie" Faith nonchalantly replied. "I'm losing track of time when I'm running after demons"

They walked for half an hour in complete silence. Tara couldn't even feel her feet and the only thing she wanted was seeing the town lights in the distance telling her that their expedition in this nerve-racking forest was over. Too busy to look around her, she didn't notice when Faith suddenly stopped without a word and she bumped into her.

Faith hardly felt her, as she watched her surroundings with much care.

"Blondie" she said after a long time of silent watch. "I think we've got a problem"

"What?" Tara asked in a monotone voice, looking for potential danger but finding nothing.

"We've already gone that way"

Tara looked at what Faith was showing. But all she could see was alike dark figures of trees and rocks.

"Y-you sure?" she asked, frowning.

Faith confidently nodded.

"Yeah, I'm" she asserted. "Several times."

"What can we do?" Tara asked hesitantly. "Where are we going now?"

Faith turned to her and looked at her in the eye with a scowl on her face.

"I have no idea"

She looked again around them and concluded:

"We're lost"


	4. Act 3

"We're lost!" Faith repeated in a much high-pitched tone.

"God! How's that!" She yelled to anyone in particular.

Tara wrapped her arms around her chest in a protective gesture and looked frantically around her.

"A-are y-you s-sure?" she asked hesitantly. "Maybe…"

She turned around, walked a few steps looking like she was searching for some kind of clue.

"May-maybe…" Tara repeated in a firmer tone.

"No" Faith coldly interrupted. "I'm sure. It's the third time we're going that way"

"You-you s-sure?" Tara repeated again.

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Faith exclaimed letting her anger taking over her. "We're lost Blondie!"

"We are lost!" she repeated, stressing each syllable. "What word don't you understand in that sentence?"

Tara looked down and didn't answer. She wrapped her arms even more tightly around herself then carefully looked up to look around her.

"Wh-what… may-maybe…"

But she fell silent before ending her sentence. Maybe because her stutter prevented her from finishing or maybe because Faith wasn't listening to her anyway.

The Slayer was looking around like a hunter on the trail. She was pacing around, irresolute to be defeated. Tara didn't dare to interrupt her and stood still without telling a word.

Faith eventually stopped and threw her crossbow in rage for the second time of the day.

"Damnit!" she grumbled.

She grabbed her crossbow, made sure it wasn't damaged and came back toward Tara with a dark look on her face.

"Lost! We're lost!" she informed. "I can't recognize a thing. I probably got it wrong somewhere. And we can't see a thing…"

"What are we going to do?" Tara asked in an anguished voice.

Faith nonchalantly shrugged and jumped to sit on a rock beside the witch.

"Nothing. What do you want to do?" she asked.

She plunged her hand in a pocket of the bag and got her cigarettes. The Slayer lit one and dragged a deep puff.

"There's nothing to do Blondie. We won't find our way back tonight. We have to wait for daylight"

Tara looked at her in horror.

"W-waiting? He-here?" she stuttered.

"Yeah" Faith simply replied. "Be patient"

Tara went on staring at Faith for long seconds. Seeing she still had no reaction, she turned to the left then to the right, trying to look as far as possible in the dark night.

"F-faith… Everything is d-dark here" she said after a moment.

Faith looked up to her and dragged a new puff before snorting at Tara.

Yeah! I'm so glad you're here to tell me that!"

She then rolled her eyes and dragged a new puff without adding a word.

Tara got closer to the Slayer and after some kind of internal debate, decided to try again.

"B-but we c-can't s-stay h-here…" she tried. "Y-you m-must have a-an I-idea of w-what to…"

"No" Faith interrupted, bored to wait for Tara to finish. "I'm a Slayer, not a mountain guide"

Again she dragged a puff before looking at Tara.

"You know you should be the brain ?"

In front of Tara's questioning look, she vaguely gestured and rolled her eyes.

"Forget it"

"Well… maybe…" Faith added a second later, her eyes coming back to Tara.

"You're a with, aren't you?" she asked as she stood, suddenly enthusiastic about the idea forming in her mind. "We've taken your magic stuff. You could do a spell? A locator spell? Something telling us where we are and how we get back?"

Tara looked at her in surprise then shook sadly her head.

"N-no. A locator spell doesn't w-work that way"

"It's used to locate isn't it?"

"To locate someone l-lost" Tara tried to explain.

As Faith grimaced, the witch understood quickly that the Slayer had no idea what she meant, which Faith voiced just after:

"We're lost, aren't we?"

Tara wavered then shook her head again.

"It-it doesn't w-work that w-way" she simply said.

A guttural cry pierced the night at that precise moment, making both girls jump. Faith only slightly jumped but Tara nearly stumbled.

"Great!" Faith ironically said. "Trapped here for the night in hostile mountains with a chicken witch unable to do a spell! It's great!"

Saying this, she furiously crushed her cigarette against the rock behind her. She stood still for a moment, carefully listening to any sound around her. When she was sure that nothing was threatening them, her body relaxed and she turned to Tara. The blonde witch had wrapped again her arms around her and was trying hard to control her shaking legs. Faith sighed and looked again around her.

"Well, we ain't gonna stay standing here" she announced. "You look scaring Blondie, you can use some rest"

She gestured to Tara to follow and got away toward a big rock whose shape recalled some giant animal wide opened mouth. Faith inspected its surroundings and looked satisfied.

"We're gonna settle here Blondie" she explained. "With that rock surrounding us, I can easily see if something's coming toward us. I only have one direction to watch for"

Tara nodded but Faith wasn't sure she had really understood. The blonde settled against the rock and folded her legs to her chest. Faith let herself fall a few meters across from her and watched her in silence. Tara was frighteningly pale and her eyes were roaming around as to look for some possible threat.

"Relax Blondie" Faith told her a few minutes later. "I'm watching, there's nothing you should be scared of. You should try to get some sleep"

Tara didn't answer nor nodded her head. She just stayed where she was, only her eyes telling Faith she was still alive. Faith stopped looking at her and relaxed against the rock in her turn, her eyes lost in the distant night in front of her, her mind roaming away.

When she turned to Tara again along time later, she saw that her eyes were still wide open.

"You should sleep Blondie" she repeated.

"I c-can't" Tara stuttered.

"Why that?"

"I-it s-so d-dark. My God, I hate this"

Faith watched her obviously questioningly because Tara felt like explaining:

"I'm afraid of the dark"

In other circumstances, Faith would probably have laughed to such a confession. But something in Tara's tone – seriousness and terror she heard - prevented her to do so.

"A-and I-it's s-so c-cold" Tara added.

"Yeah" Faith commented.

She noticed that the witch was violently shaking and chattering her teeth. Faith nimbly got to her feet and went a few steps away.

She gathered branches and twigs and came back to Tara with her arms fully loaded.

"I'm gonna build a fire" she explained as she unloaded her burden near the witch. "Light and warmth" she added as to justify what she was doing.

She started to gather the twigs and put some branches above. She got her lighter in her pocket and switched it on near the twigs. They caught fire at once and Faith let escape a small victory cry. Which transformed into an unhappy growl when the flames almost immediately disappeared. Faith started again her actions. Twice. Three times. And she faced the same failure each time. When the flames died for the fifth time, Faith turned to Tara with a resolute look on her face. The witch was still motionless and was looking at her with a fearful look.

"Don't worry Blondie, I'm gonna do this"

Faith gathered new twigs and changed the setting of the branches. This time, she set them pyramid-shaped around the twigs pile. Again she switched her lighter on and added new twigs as the pile was burning in front of her.

That time worked. Soon, flames grew and branches caught fire in their turn.

Faith grinned as she was fire getting stronger and reaching the top of her pyramid. She then waved her lighter under Tara's nose and bragged:

"Next time you tell me it's bad to smoke, remember that night!"

In front of Tara's dubious look, she specified:

"No cigarette, no lighter. No lighter, no fire"

She bustled about the fire again, made sure it was strong enough then gestured to Tara to come.

"Come closer Blondie, get some warmth"

Tara did as she was asked and came closer to the fire. She spread her hands near the flames and when she looked up to Faith, the Slayer saw a glimmer in her eyes she read as one of gratitude.

"Th-thank you" Tara said as a confirmation.

"Maybe you'll be able to sleep near the fire"

Tara didn't answer but she settled on the ground as comfortably as possible. She closed her eyes. But they didn't remain closed for more than a few seconds. Tara slightly stood and saw that Faith was looking at her from across the fire.

"Everything's fine Blondie. I'm taking care of the fire and I'm watching around. You should sleep"

Tara closed her eyes again and Faith curled up as the blonde had done a little while before to try to keep warmth. Despite the flames dancing beside her, Faith was now feeling the cold too. She was starting to feel tired. Her shoulder was hurting, her legs were numb from the long run then walk she had forced them to do.

Faith rested her head on her knees and remained still for a long time before turning to Tara. The blonde was looking at her.

"Still not sleeping?"

"I can't" Tara breathed.

"Still cold and scared?" Faith asked.

Tara slightly nodded and tightened her arms.

"It's that dark…" she explained in a low voice. "And that silence…"

Faith slightly moved toward her to hear and addressed her a curious look.

"It…it recalls me about wh-when I… I ca-came b-back…"

Faith arched an eyebrow to that.

"When you came back?" she repeated.

Then she suddenly realized what the blonde meant and her eyes opened wide.

"Oh!"

Silence fell again but it suddenly felt a lot more heavier and meaningful than previously. She waited for Tara to say something but nothing came for long minutes, as the blonde remained violently shaking and staring blankly in front of her.

When Tara finally went on in an even lower tone, Faith had to come closer and to bend to hear.

"It was dark all the time…And…"

She fell silent again, breathed deeply in before resuming:

"It was dark. And I could hear nothing… almost nothing…"

* * *

_Dark._

_It was dark._

_Absolute dark._

_No light. No sound._

_A shrine of void._

_Everything was so dark and silent that you would think for a moment that you had just find out the heart of nothingness itself._

_But it wasn't._

_Instinctively you could guess the four rough walls enclosing that spot of vacuity, keeping it out of reach from the outside world._

_There was no window or any kind of ventilation. Even the frame of the heavy door – which was the only access to the world – didn't allow any light. Nor sound._

_In that deathly silence, a patient and trained ear could bit by bit perceive a sound coming from the center of the room. So low that it needed a great concentration to be heard._

_It was just a breath._

_A breath._

_A weak breathing. Laborious._

_Breathing in. Breathing out._

_Following the source of that jerky breathing, a shape was finally perceived in the dark._

_A bed. Just a bed in the center of the little room._

_An inert body was lying there on its back. A thin and naked womanly body. Motionless, save for the almost regular movement of the chest._

_Long blonde hair was lying on the mattress along the young woman body. The face that shadows finally revealed was pale and emaciated. Cheekbones were high. Lips were white and gaunt. Closed eyes shuddered, announcing they were soon going to open._

_Eyelids slowly fluttered open and revealed blue irises. Gaze was still and blank._

_The young woman remained motionless like this for a long time. A really long time. Minutes? Hours? Days ?_

_She had no idea. No clue._

_She tried to turn her head on her side. But the effort to make seemed insurmountable. Her muscles refused to obey. Her body didn't feel like responding._

_But she wanted to know what surrounded her. That feeling of void around her made her dizzy. She needed to know. She didn't hear anything. Didn't see anything. She NEEDED to know._

_But there was nothing she could do. Despite all her efforts, her neck refused to move. She was too weak. Too weak just to move her head._

_She would have wanted to cry. To cry as terror helplessly overpowered her._

_She wanted light. She wanted to see. She wanted to know. To know where she was. What she was doing here. What had happened to her. What would happen to her._

_She wanted to cry. She felt her chest rising as if racking sobs were about to burst out of her chest but no tear ran along her cheeks._

_She wanted to yell. But unclenching her sealed lips was even more painful than trying to get a sound out of her dry throat._

_Her eyes moved to the side to try to see her surroundings. In her limited field of vision, all she could see was darkness._

_She tried to move her fingers to feel the mattress she was lying onto. Scraping the blanket with her forefinger required endless effort and perseverance._

_She would have cried in pain if she had been able to. But she still couldn't._

_When the door opened, light filtered through the half open door and she blinked and was forced to close her eyes as brightness was unbearable. She guessed someone was coming close to her but her eyes couldn't make out who or what had just come in._

_Panic suddenly oppressed her. And the only thing she was able to do until then became even more laborious than it was. Her breathing quickened, she started to feel short of breath. So short that she thought she might suffocate._

_A hand came then to her chest. Between her naked breasts. A cold and callous hand. She shivered in horror and cold when she felt long and rough fingers slowly going down. Disgust and powerlessness met in her dizzy mind. Her breath choked in her throat._

_The hand stopped and opened. The palm rested on her belly._

"_Come on, miss Maclay"_

_Voice strangely rang in the room. Male voice. Cold and metallic. And it felt so far from her…_

"_Calm down…"_

_She felt warmth on her belly. Discreet and diffuse. Almost immediately, her breathing calmed down, air came back into her lungs. She was able to breath again._

_Breathing in. Breathing out._

"_It's better like this miss Maclay"_

_Maclay. The name rang to her ears. It felt familiar. Almost common. Almost obvious. She hardly frowned._

"_You have to be careful not to have any violent emotion Tara" voice resumed as the man moved around her. "You're not strong enough yet"_

_Tara. _

_Tara Maclay._

_A more than familiar name._

_Her name._

"_Would be a shame to waste a so great work, wouldn't it?"_

_She felt again the hand on herself. Tracing her face, running along her curves, weighting her members, as she was nothing more than a straw._

"_Wonderful. Really wonderful miss Maclay" the voice congratulated as the hand left her body._

_Maclay._

_Tara Maclay._

_Her name._

_Remembrance tore away the darkness surrounding her memory._

_She was Tara Maclay._

_The hand came back to her face. Fingers opened her dry lips. She felt something at the corner of her mouth. She felt liquid running down her thirsty throat. She drank the water of resurrection with eagerness. She was so thirsty._

_Thirsty._

_She was thirsty._

_She remembered how it felt. She remembered how it felt to quench her thirst._

_She was Tara Maclay and she was quenching her thirst._

"_Good Tara. I'm proud of you" the voice said again as cool water was loosening her throat. "We're gonna do great things together, you'll see"_

_Tara._

_The name was now resounding in her ears like church bells pealing. As if water flowing into her was sweeping away the heavy mist tightly surrounding her memories. _

_And something else burst out off void even more suddenly that had came back to her the obviousness of her own identity._

"_Willow !"_

_She breathed the name in a hoarse voice she didn't recognize but was nevertheless hers._

"_Willow !"_

_She spat some water back and was about to choke again. The hand came back to her belly in a soothing gesture._

"_Calm down miss Maclay" the voice said in a monotone voice. "There'll be time for each thing"_

_Willow._

_Willow._

_Willow._

_That new name replaced her own as throbbing song in her ears. And images started to appear before her eyes. Faces, places, and events she couldn't clearly see and that disappeared as fast as they had appeared. A stream of scenes not connected with each other bathed with light, life, death or darkness._

"_Willow…" she repeated and again her throat was dry._

_As if he had read her mind, the man beside her poured water in her mouth again._

"_Really good Tara" he encouraged. "It's really good. Let me fix that body and you will be my greatest success"_

_Water stopped flowing and she heard the sound of a bottle closing. She knew a tall man was here, watching closely her motionless body from head to toes but she couldn't clearly see him._

"_My greatest success" he repeated with a hint of pride in his voice._

_And she was alone again._

_Alone in the dark._

_Darkness and silence almost complete._

_If she carefully pricked up her ears, she could hear smothered noises. Steps coming closer? Voices in the distance? Grunting? Scraping? It wasn't clear. _

_She didn't resolve to wait. Resolving to wait would have meant she had a choice. But she had none. She had no other choice, no other possibility than waiting._

_How much time went by between that first burst of consciousness and her following awakening? How much time between her awakening and another visit from the man whose name she would learn soon was Gideon? How much time before her voice was enough confident and her mind enough clear to ask for a blanket? How much time went by in that dark empty cell before she was strong enough to sit and to hold a fork and a plate? How much time to bear light and to open her eyes wide?_

_It took her time, a lot of time to begin to understand the reality of her situation._

_It took her tears and pains to learn to stand on her feet again and to walk - supporting herself on walls she couldn't see._

_But despite all this time, she never was able to shake off the terror darkness of her convalescent prison inspired her._

_What she didn't know however, was that, when finally the door would open for her to go out, being outside these four walls, exposed to light and gazes again, would be as frightening._

* * *

Faith was staring at Tara in silence. A glimmer Tara had never seen before was shining in her brown eyes.

"Eh ben" was the only comment the Slayer was able to say.

She was motionless, nailed on her spot by the blonde's tale.

Faith was looking at her differently for the first time since the beginning of their trip. When the blonde most of the time inspired her only pity, disinterest or annoyance, she now looked at her with compassion. But Faith couldn't think of words to comfort the blonde, she couldn't even think to comment that come back from the dead trip.

She stayed a long time just looking at Tara, playing in her head the events the blonde had told her as the night was passing by. The witch didn't pay attention to her reaction. Her last words said, she looked down at her trembling hands, looked around her like a deer caught in lights, then she finally lied down near the fire. She curled up as much as she could, trying to keep the warmth the night was stealing from her and tried to sleep.

Faith watched her closing her eyes and violently shaking. She heard her teeth chattering as she was getting cold herself.

After a long internal debate, she eventually asked:

"Not better Blondie?"

Tara's eyes opened immediately and she looked at Faith with a questioning look.

"Not better Blondie?" the Slayer repeated.

Before adding:

"I mean… Still cold and scared?"

Tara seemed to waver. Then she slowly nodded her head and tightened her grip around herself.

"It-it's c-cold"

Faith sighed then gestured for her to come closer.

"Come on here Blondie"

Tara looked at her without understanding but nevertheless stood.

"Come on here" Faith repeated.

Tara came slightly closer and stopped moving when she was within Faith's reach.

"Come on here" Faith said again and lightly tapped her shoulder. "Come against me, I'll keep you warm"

Tara frowned, as she hadn't correctly heard. As she still wasn't moving, Faith grabbed her shoulder and pulled her toward herself. Then she awkwardly wrapped the blonde's shoulders and pulled her body against her own.

"Not my favorite part of the deal, but I have to protect you" she felt like explaining. "I guess it does include protecting you against cold too"

She fell silent for a second as Tara tried to settle more comfortably between her arms but tried not to be too close to her at the same time. Faith rolled her eyes, as the blonde's tries were obviously inefficient.

"I'm pretty sure that B will kill me if you freeze to death here beside me. No matter if it's not a vampire sucking you dry. She'll kill me"

She fell silent again and imagined the blonde Slayer lecturing her about her ridiculous and dangerous expedition in the mountains.

"So I'm doing my job" she concluded in a defeated tone.

"There's not much time left before dawn" Faith added a little later. "You should try to get some sleep Blondie. There's nothing you should be scared of, I'll keep my eyes open"

Faith felt Tara tensing in her arms then slowly relaxing and finally letting go.

"My name's Tara" she whispered.

"Yeah" Faith said with a smirk. "You should try to get some sleep Tara"


	5. Act 4

Fire had eventually died and sun had risen. Faith was still leaning against the rock with Tara in her arms. The Slayer was perfectly still, save for the regular move of her chest. But she wasn't sleeping. Her wide-opened eyes were roaming around; her ears were on the lookout, her muscles tensed, ready to react at any sign of a danger.

She could have got up several hours before, when dawn had risen on the horizon. But Tara was sleeping so peacefully that Faith hasn't felt like waking her. The blonde had finally completely relaxed and had sunk into deep sleep with her head rested on Faith's shoulder. Despite the hard conditions of that night in the mountain, Faith thought that she had never seen the blonde sleeping so well in weeks.

So despite her numb muscles, Faith had let her sleep when day had risen.

A slight noise on her right made her turn her head. Leaves insistently moved and Faith moved one of her hands to the dagger beside her, trying not to wake Tara. The second after, a wild cat appeared near them and considered curiously the girls before scampering off. Faith laid the dagger back.

Her care to let Tara sleep wasn't enough and Tara's eyelids fluttered opened. She slightly moved then looked up and her eyes crossed Faith's. Tara turned her head and considered her position, the brunette's arm around her shoulder and her head resting on Faith's. She abruptly stood and got free from Faith's embrace as the Slayer stepped back quickly too.

An uneasy silence followed. Faith got to her feet and cleaned the dust off her jeans without a glance for the blonde who was looking around her as to remember what she was doing there.

"Hum…" Faith said after a moment she spent to arranger her weapons at her belt. "If you're okay Blondie, I think we can get back"

Tara nodded and got up in her turn.

"W-what t-time is it?" she hesitantly asked.

"Don't know" Faith answered, shrugging. "But dawn rose a few hours ago"

"Oh!" Tara said with surprise. "Maybe you should have…"

But she didn't finish her sentence and just nodded.

"I'm ready" she simply said.

Faith nodded too.

"Well, let's go. Let's see if we can find our way back or if we're gonna starve in here!"

Tar pouted and Faith smirked.

"Don't worry Blondie, I'm gonna find"

Faith checked one last time the weapons at her belt then threw the backpack on her shoulder.

"Let's go"

But just a few meters later, Faith abruptly stopped.

Tara recognized her stance, the stance telling that the Slayer had heard something.

"What?"

Faith gestured to her to be quiet and carefully listened. Then she suddenly turned around and jumped on Tara who toppled over.

"Get down!"

Tara hit the ground but her fall was slightly softened by Faith's hand in her back. The witch saw then their flying demon passing above their heads.

Faith immediately got to her feet and drew her crossbow out. But the monster was faster than the evening before and it was already coming back to them before she had time to fire. She just had time to get off its way as a column of flames engulfed the spot she was standing just before.

Faith came back to Tara who was getting off the ground and helped her to her feet.

"Looking to be on form this morning" she said quickly as she watched the demon coming back toward them.

The monster snarled and expelled a spray of fire to them. Faith dragged Tara with her behind a rock to shelter.

"I'm gonna take care of it Blondie. It won't be able to attack both of them at the same time. I'll try to get its attention. Go in the opposite direction. Okay?"

"But…" Tara protested.

"No buts" Faith ordered. "Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to end as a grilled toast for dragon. Do what I tell you"

Without letting Tara time to answer, Faith stepped aside from their protecting rock and loaded her crossbow. She fired but she missed it and Faith yelled in rage. She then took off on her left and cast a glance behind her to make sure that the demon was following her and that Tara was doing as she had been told. She was satisfied to see everything was happening as she wanted.

Faith avoided new flames, rolled onto the ground, turned around and fired again. The bolt missed its target again.

"Shit!"

She got to her feet, ran to shelter behind a rock from new flames and fired once again. This time the bolt stuck into the demon's skin and it snarled in rage before coming back toward Faith again.

"Shit!" Faith grumbled. "I won't come through like that…"

She looked again discreetly above the rock and saw the demon's lonely eye staring at her before it spat another flames at her. Faith plunged again behind the rock and felt the air above her head getting warmer.

"I can't attack it face on…" she whispered for herself. "The only way is to attack by its blind side…"

New flames crashed into the rock and Faith suddenly saw the dragon's shadow rising above her. The Slayer stepped aside and bypassed it when the dragon poured a torrent of flames where she was hiding the instant before.

Faith nimbly climbed on the rock and found herself at the dragon level, on its blind side. Without wavering, she jumped forward on the monster. She fell astride its neck and squeezed it at full force.

The dragon immediately cried and bucked and Faith had to cling on to the demon's neck with all her strength. The demon reared again and Faith let go of her crossbow she still had in hand.

"Damnit!" she growled, looking at her now out of reach weapon.

Faith's focus had to come back quickly to the problem at hand when the dragon shook frantically its head. Faith bent forward and tightened her grip around the demon's neck while feverishly searching a weapon at her belt with her free hand. When she had her longest dagger in hand, Faith started to hit furiously the demon's neck. The demon's kicks got faster, it started to spit fire in every directions, yelling so piercing cries that Faith winced in pain. Her grip loosened and the Slayer was thrown off the dragon's back.

Surprised, Faith couldn't catch hold of the demon's neck and her body fell hard on the ground a few meters lower.

The Slayer let escape a moan. She stayed still for a moment and focused on the pain. Her left leg and her back were hurting and she could feel her shoulder was bleeding again. Faith blinked. She suddenly felt weak and had to make an effort to remain conscious.

The dragon snarling close to her brought her back to reality. Faith blinked again and pushed on her legs to step aside. The dragon was just above her and the Slayer felt warmth on her calves as she got away. She found herself behind the demon and with her dagger still in hand, she wanted to hit the beast's side again. As she raised her arm to hit, she didn't react quickly enough to avoid the demon's tail. Faith was hit in full stomach and her breath choked in her throat as she was thrown several meters away by the violent impact.

She got immediately to her knees and touched her ribs. They were hurting and she supposed that at least one of them was broken. She spat blood.

Faith looked for her dagger she had let go in her fall. Not finding it, she feverishly looked for another one at her belt.

"Faith!"

Tara's high-pitched shouting made her look up. The blonde was standing just a dozen feet away from where she had left her and she was staring at her.

Faith rolled her eyes when she noticed that the demon had heard her to and was looking at the blonde. Faith saw then with horror that the demon was now flying toward Tara.

She got to her feet with some difficulty and looked for her crossbow or any way to reach for the monster. Her eyes quickly came back to the blonde and Faith saw she wasn't moving. Again she searched for a mean to hit the demon from where she was. She would never have time to reach Tara before it.

A sudden burst of panic shook Tara when she saw the demon coming toward her. She looked frantically around her to find a way to escape but her legs were shaking too violently for her to make a step. She looked again around her, then beyond the dragon and saw Faith without her crossbow, too far from her.

"Tara! Move!" The Slayer yelled at the top of her lungs with a hint of panic in her voice.

Tara saw her looking around searching something. She wanted to obey to the Slayer's command. She wanted to search for an escape, a spell but her brain refused to work. She looked at the demon swooping down on her.

"Tara! Move!" Faith yelled again.

When she thought the demon was about to get it over with the still motionless blonde, she finally moved. She threw herself on the side to avoid the demon and started to run in the direction he had come from.

High flames engulfed two trees behind Tara. The dragon snarled with frustration and followed half a circle around the burning trees before coming back toward the girls.

Faith came to meet Tara, slightly limping.

"You okay Blondie?" she asked, watching for the demon's approach above Tara's shoulder.

Tara nodded and tried to control her breath before asking;

"W-what a-are- w-we doing?"

"Don't know" Faith growled. "That thing's tough. Still on top form despite all that I hit. And it's really hard to get close with those damn flames"

Tara turned around to see the demon coming toward them.

"What are we doing?" she repeated, looking at the Slayer in the eye.

"Well… Right now…" Faith replied and started to move. "We're running!"

The Slayer pulled on Tara's wrist and both girls cleared off as fast as possible.

"Let's find a place to shelter! Time for me to find something to get rid off that thing!"

Both girls were running as fast as they could and were weaving in and out the trees to try to lose the demon and to get off its line of sight. Tara was doing her best to follow the Slayer. But she was already exhausted and Faith was further with each step. She felt fatigue taking over and her legs weakening and despite her efforts, she couldn't go any faster.

Jumping above a branch across her path, Tara landed badly and felt her ankle twist. She stumbled over and felt tears of pain forming in the corner of her eyes.

"F-Faith…"

She tried to call the Slayer but her name choked in her throat.

She turned round and saw the demon arriving to her.

Faith stopped and turned around, her instinct telling her that Tara wasn't following her anymore. Faith saw her lying on the ground with a wince of pain on her face. The demon was really close to her now.

"Oh my God" the Slayer whispered.

Tara looked at the demon coming closer and closer. Her breath quickened, she tried to get to her feet but her legs wouldn't move. Again she desperately searched her memories for something useful. But the demon was there now.

And as it was opening its mouth to reduce her to ashes, words were suddenly there in her mouth. An incantation in Latin which came back from darkness and she reeled off quickly and precisely as she had never forgotten it.

Faith looked at the dragon coming close to Tara who still wasn't moving and was looking at it with panic in her eyes. She saw her opening her mouth and pronouncing words she couldn't clearly hear despite her Slayer-hearing.

She saw the demon's mouth opening and getting ready to pour flames onto the blonde. But nothing happened. The dragon spat but spat nothing. Faith's eyes opened wide in surprise.

She didn't remain there a long time wondering what could have happened and ran toward Tara as fast as she could. Faith put two daggers in her hands and got ready to attack once again.

"Get off Tara!"

Tara crawled back to move away from the dragon, which was still trying unsuccessfully to spit fire. It snarled, stopped to stare at the retreating blonde. It tried again to reduce her to ashes but nothing happened this time too. It came down with every claw out.

Before the dragon reached Tara, a worn out and out of breath Faith jumped on it with her daggers pointing forward. Faith furiously hit it on its side, where she had hit it before.

"Get up Blondie! Push off here!"

Tara tried to get up and winced at her painful ankle.

"Push off Blondie!" Faith yelled as the dragon tried to turn around.

But despite her wounds, the Slayer managed to stay out of its reach and went on stabbing furiously the demon. Blood at last spurted out and the brunette's face was covered with the demon's blood.

Finally, it seemed to weaken a little. He gave a sudden flutter and rose in the sky. Faith immediately jumped beside Tara.

"What's wrong?"

"I twi-twisted my ankle"

Faith rolled her eyes. She looked up and saw the dragon slowly going down toward them.

"We have to move Blondie"

Without letting her time to answer, Faith came closer and put her arm around her waist.

"Lean on me, let's go"

"F-Faith, we won't go f-far th-that wa-way. You c-can't ca-carry me…"

"Shut up" Faith interrupted. "Let's go"

They started to walk but they were moving too slow.

"Move Blondie. We have to move"

Faith dragged Tara along but the dragon was already near them. Faith was watching its progress and as the monster jumped on them, Faith pushed Tara aside and turned weapons in hands.

"Hide behind that rock Blondie!" She yelled, gesturing to the aforementioned rock. "Hide!"

Tara turned where Faith had pointed. She looked then at Faith fighting with the dragon again. The Slayer had some trouble to handle the demon as she was watching what the blonde was doing.

"Hide Blondie!" She yelled again.

Tara finally crawled behind the rock Faith had showed. The dragon's tail came crashing down at the precise place the witch was an instant before as she pushed on her arms in a desperate effort to shelter. Tara could feel the vibration of the blow behind her and let escape the breath she was holding.

There was a slight slope behind the rock and grass was damp. The witch was dragged by her impulse and slid head first along the embankment. She tried to catch hold on something but found nothing to grab. She found herself a few meters lower and was happy to notice she was unharmed. She sighed again in relief.

Then yelled in horror when she looked up.

Right before her eyes was a man's corpse. Tara abruptly stood and despite herself found herself sitting.

Out of breath and open wide-eyes, the witch looked over it without coming too much closer. The man was probably in his mid-thirty. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed. One of his arms was lying along his body when the other was on his chest and his hand was clasping firmly something hanging from his neck. Tara craned her neck to try to see what it was then turned her had on her left. There was a white glimmer behind the corpse.

Tara carefully came closer and her eyes opened wide in surprise and horror. The glimmer came from a gaping hole. It was narrow and around two meters long. The light seemed to drift above the ground around the fault whose bottom couldn't be seen. Only deep darkness could be perceived as soon as the eye penetrated in the ground. Tara immediately felt uneasy as a wicked atmosphere surrounded her.

She noticed inscriptions on a rock near the hollow. She got closer to read them. They were written in Latin and the blonde had to deeply search in her memory to try to understand.

"F-Faith!" She called out.

Tara turned around toward the direction she had come from. She could hear Faith fighting with the demon a few meters higher.

"Faith!" She shouted louder. "Faith! Come on here!"

A few seconds later, Faith raced down the slope in her turn. The Slayer was covered in blood and her face and arms were swollen.

"What?" Faith exclaimed as she alternately looked between the blonde and above her shoulder.

"Look" Tara said pointing first to the corpse, then to the fault behind him.

"Oh God" Faith said and stood up with her eyes glued to the white glimmer. "What's this?"

"I think it's where our dragon came from" Tara said.

Faith frowned and looked at the blonde with a questioning look.

"It's a hellmouth" Tara added, pointing to the inscriptions in the rock. "Sort of"

* * *

"Hellmouth ? " Faith asked.

Tara nodded.

"It's written here. Looks like a sp-spell opened it recently" the blonde explained. "Maybe it's him" she added, pointing to the corpse beside them.

The dragon appeared at that precise moment above their heads. Faith tightened her grip around her dagger.

"D'you think you can do something for this?" Faith asked.

"Wh-what?" Tara asked, panic rising in her voice.

"A spell?" Faith specified. "Can you do a spell to close this?"

"A-a spell?"

"Yeah. A spell. You did a spell to prevent that demon to roast us right?"

"But… I-I don't know. I th-think it's wri-written ho-how to…"

"Do it"

With this, Faith turned round to fight the demon once again. It put her to the ground and Tara opened terrified eyes when she saw the Slayer driven against the ground and trying to defend herself. Seeing Faith was manhandled, Tara rushed to the inscriptions beside the hellmouth.

The witch quickly read them again then turned to the corpse. She crawled to him and loosened the fingers' grip from the locket they held. Tara recognized it. A wizard symbol. Tara tore it out from the man's neck and came back to the inscriptions.

She turned again to Faith. The Slayer had managed to get free from the demon but was still in difficulty. She had to do something fast. Really fast.

She slipped the backpack off her back and feverishly searched for her plastic bag. She shakily pulled a phial out and poured its content on the inscriptions. Then she read them out loud, stressing each syllable as she had been taught so long ago. She read them once, twice, three times.

And at last, the glimmer above the fault became brighter, more sparkling. Tara blinked to the dazzling light and had to plug her ears as a piercing whistling seemed to come out from the depths of the earth. She stumbled back and turned to Faith. The Slayer too had stopped every move and dropped her weapons to plug her ears. The demon was motionless and yelled as a powerful wind was blowing and dragging it toward the fault. Tara lied flat on the ground and closed her eyes.

Wind and noise ceased several dozens of seconds later. Tara opened her eyes again. The glimmer had gone out. The fault and the demon had disappeared.

A few feet across from her, Faith stood up with difficulty and came strongly limping toward her. Her clothes were torn, her body was covered in blood and she had a hard time just to stand.

"Good job Blondie" she simply said, pointing to where the fault had been. "You sent that demon back where he came from and closed that hole. Good"

Tara nodded and looked again at the fault's site. There was no trace left.

"See? Looks like it's coming back to you!" Faith said.

Tara nodded again.

"Are-are you o-okay?"

Faith sniggered and pointed to herself.

"Five by five Blondie. Can't you see that?"

"Okay" Tara admitted. "That was a stupid question"

Faith then held out her hand to her.

"What do you think of coming back? I think we can use some rest"

Tara grabbed the hand and let Faith pull her to her feet.

"I'm drea-dreaming about a bed" the blonde said.

"Well, I think I agree with you for once"

* * *

Faith opened the motel's door and dropped her bag to the ground almost immediately. The room was simple, just as those they were used to frequent. A dresser, a middle-sized bed, a washbasin, a chair.

The Slayer came slowly in the room, almost staggered to reach the bed where she let herself fall with a relieved sigh.

Tara was closely following her and she looked as tired as her companion. She closed the door behind her, looked over the room and stood still there.

Faith got up again when she saw her standing still and vaguely gestured behind her.

"You should go to sleep Blondie, day was pretty hard" she said. "I'll make a stop to the bathroom"

She searched for something in the bag, took a pair of boxers and a tee shirt out. Tara looked at her exiting the room again limping.

When she came back a few minutes later, she found Tara in pajamas sitting cross-legged on the bed.

Faith grabbed her sleeping bag and threw it to the ground near the bed. Then she sat on the ground coming down slowly along the wall.

"Still hurting?" Tara asked.

Faith vaguely nodded.

"Yeah. But it's nothing to worry about. With my Slayer healing and stuff, I'll be five by five again by tomorrow"

Silence fell over the room. Faith looked for something around her and rolled her eyes when she noticed she had forgotten her cigarettes in her jeans on the chair. Tara probably noticed 'cause she followed her gaze.

"Do y-you n-need so-something?"

"Yeah. Wanna smoke. I let my cigarettes in my pants"

She was about to lean on the wall behind to her to get up but was surprised to see Tara crawling to the bottom of the bed and hold her hand to her jeans where she grabbed the cigarettes and the lighter.

She then came back to Faith and gave them to her.

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"N-no" Tara answered, shaking her head.

Faith lit her cigarette and carefully leant back again the wall glancing at Tara out of the corner of her eye. She puffed several times on her cigarette as the witch distractedly played with the blanket between her fingers.

"So?" Faith asked after a rather long silence. "How d'you feel"?

Tara looked to her and considered her with surprise.

"Wh-what?"

"How'd you feel?" Faith repeated. "Day was pretty hard. Last night too"

She stared at Tara's blue eyes and the witch looked down. Her fingers nervously fidgeted with the blanket.

"It's weird you know…" she said in a low voice. "Tal-talking about all this… Tal-talking that much…"

Faith smirked.

"I'm pretty sure you said more words tonight than you did in weeks!" she said in a cheerful tone.

Tara didn't answer and both girls remained silent for minutes before Faith resumed:

"I think it's good you talked. Well, I guess"

She thoughtfully nodded and looked at Tara who was still staring at the blanket under her fingers.

"How's your ankle?" she added quickly.

Tara looked up this time then looked at her injured ankle.

"I'll be fine" she said. "In some days I think"

She was about to add something but finally kept quiet for some more seconds. She remained thoughtful, as Faith was finishing off her cigarette.

"It's weird you know…" she explained suddenly looking at her hands again. "I feel like… not long before yesterday, all I wanted was to be dead…"

She paused then looked up to face Faith.

"And today, I was fighting for my life like it was important. Like I wanted to live. Like I care to live"

"Maybe…" Faith replied looking at the blonde in the face. "Maybe it's just because you do wanna live? Maybe your love for life is stronger than you thought. Stronger than you can think right now"

Tara considered Faith with some surprise and Faith smiled despite herself, happy in some way to surprise the blonde.

"You should sleep Blondie" she said. "You look scary"

Tara nodded and slipped between the sheets. Then she watched the Slayer a long time while she was trying to settle meticulously in her sleeping bag not to suffer from her wounds. She winced when her shoulder hit the ground.

"'Night Blondie" she simply said before closing her eyes with a wince of pain.

Tara didn't answer at fist and went on looking at the wincing Slayer as she was looking for a good position to sleep. After long minutes of internal debate, the witch reached a decision.

"Faith…" she said.

The Slayer opened her eyes again and looked at her with an annoyed look on her face.

"What?" she asked.

"May-maybe you cou-could co-come and sleep in the b-bed?" she suggested.

Faith looked at her for a second then shrugged.

"It's okay Blondie" she grumbled. "Rather me than you on that wonderful bed!" she added pointing to the ground and her sleeping bag.

"No" Tara interrupted. "I mean you c-could sleep in the bed wi-with m-me. It's big enough f-for b-both of us"

Faith stared at her in silence then looked over the bed as to check if Tara was telling the truth.

She shrugged and was about to refuse but changed her mind when she felt the hard ground under her hips as she was turning round to the witch.

"Bed's big enough uh?" she asked.

Tara nodded and put the blankets aside for the Slayer.

Faith carefully got up and felt like this simple gesture took her an eternity.

"I think I can use a good bed for once" she said as she settled carefully in the bed.

The mattress creaked under her and Faith smiled as she felt the softness of the mattress and the warmth of the blankets. She put the blanket back over her then lied on her back on the right edge of the bed.

"'Night Blondie" she repeated.

Tara nodded then banned herself at the other side of the bed.

"Good night Faith"

Then the witch turned her back to the Slayer and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later, they were both sleeping.

* * *

_End of "Alone in the dark"_

_To be continued in "Mirror, mirror" _

_Please tell me what you think about the episode. _


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